“He Didn’t Devote Himself”: Shaquille O’Neal’s Teammate Once Blamed His Lack of Effort for Abysmal Free-Throw Shooting

Shaquille O’Neal is one of the most dominant centers in the league as well as one of the wealthiest athletes in the country boasting four championships. During his playing days, there wasn’t much he couldn’t do in terms of scoring, rebounding, and blocking shots. If something was missing from his arsenal, it was his free-throw shooting, something his former teammate once called him out on.

Back in 2011, Shaquille O’Neal’s ‘Shaq Uncut: My Story’ revealed how one of Superman’s former teammates, Derek Harper had pinned the blame for his poor free-throw shooting on his lack of effort, “The only diagnosis—the correct diagnosis—belonged to Derek Harper, the veteran guard who had played with the Lakers in 1998–99. ‘He didn’t work at it hard enough,’ Harper said. That’s the simple truth.”

A 16-year veteran in the league, Derek Harper stated that one could become a decent free-throw shooter by putting in the work. And given the talent that Shaq possessed, he could’ve easily developed his free-throw shooting.

“Anyone who works on free throw shooting can become at least a decent free throw shooter. Shaq was one of the best players to ever step on a court.”

Harper did credit Shaquille O’Neal for the things he did to perfection but that may have been a back-handed compliment of sorts. The 6’4 point guard pointed out how Shaq was all power and brute force, something he already excelled at. It was his free-throw shooting that he could’ve worked on later in his career. 

“But he didn’t devote himself to something he needed to devote himself to. He was all about power and force. Not free throws,” stated the biography.

Shaquille O’Neal finished his career with 23.7 PPG, 10.9 RPG, and 2.3 BPG on 58.6% true shooting percentage. While his career averages may not show the entire picture, Shaq was putting up big numbers in the scoring column on a nightly basis. 

However, the four-time NBA champion’s highest free-throw percentage throughout his career was just 62.2% during the 2002-03 NBA season with the Los Angeles Lakers.

If only O’Neal had devoted himself a little to improving his free-throw shooting, he could’ve had a much more illustrious career and probably would’ve won more awards (missed out on two back-to-back MVPs) and maybe even another championship as well.

What was Shaquille O’Neal’s kryptonite?

Shaquille O’Neal finished his career cracking the top 10 in the All-Time scoring list with a total of 28,596 points. However, during his 19-year-long NBA career, the three-time Finals MVP went on to miss a total of 5,317 free throws during the regular season. 

Back in 2022, O’Neal revealed how missing so many free throws ended up being one of the regrets he had when it came to his time in the league. Another thing that still bothered him was not being able to surpass Wilt Chamberlain on the All-Time Scoring list while also ranking higher than he currently is.

“There’s two regrets, actually three. Missing 5,000 free throws, not passing WIlt Chamberlain in points, and not being higher on the scoring list. Those are my only three regrets,” Shaq revealed.

Shaq being a decent free-throw shooter during his tenure in the NBA could’ve opened up so many aspects for the big man and his teammates. He would’ve inevitably scored more points, the league would never have invented the ‘Hack-A-Shaq’ rule and maybe he could’ve had that fifth ring that separates him from the likes of Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan.

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• Derek Harper
• Shaquille O'Neal